Free At Last
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: They stood gathered around the small television set, each of their hearts hoping for the same outcome.  Slash.  JedOct.  LarryTeddy.


Title: "Free At Last"  
>Author: Pirate Turner<br>Rating: R  
>Summary: They stood gathered around the small television set, each of their hearts hoping for the same outcome.<br>Warnings: Slash, Established Pairing  
>Word Count: 2,081<br>Date Written: 11 July, 2011  
>Disclaimer: Jedediah, Octavius, Larry, this version of Teddy, all other characters mentioned within, and Night at the Museum are &amp; TM 20th Century Fox and any other rightful owners, none of whom are the author. Everything else is &amp; TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.<br>Author's Note: Thank you, New York!

They stood gathered around the small television set, each of their hearts hoping for the same outcome. "It's preposterous!" Teddy announced, his mustache twitching and his brown eyes flaring behind his spectacles. "Such a small group of people should not have control over the fates of an entire state! America was made to be free, and she is anything but when the basic freedoms of our people are stripped!"

"Those who came before us, those who have laid down their lives and all else they held valuable for freedom, are surely - " He paused, his face scrunching in confusion. "What is the phrase, Larry?" he questioned. "I've heard you use it before, lad . . . "

"Rolling in their graves, Teddy?" Larry proposed, glaring at the television set and the current speaker who was prattling on about all the supposedly good and fair reasons they had to deny freedom from his people.

"Precisely!" Teddy exclaimed, his mustache curling in triumphant. He raised a gloved finger into the air. "They should not have this power! I knew a man once whose views of freedom were as grand as ours, as all should be! The person whom he was made to represent was one of the great leaders of our country. He said something once to me that still rings true today, perhaps even truer today than it did then. "In my many years," he told me, "I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."

"Congress?" Jedediah repeated, a shiver sliding down his spine. "Sounds plumb horrible!"

"They are," Larry commented.

"I understand them to be one of the governing bodies of this land," Octavius spoke. "As such, they hold the power to do what they think is right for their people."

Jed whirled on him, the heat of his anger flushing his face. "Ya can't possibly be tellin' me ya think this's fer th' good o' th' people, Octie!"

"No," Octavius was quick to assure his lover. He shook his head. "However, even in Rome, we were not allowed to openly mate with whomsoever we chose. We could have them behind closed doors, if we were careful and none learned of what we were doing."

"Same as today," Larry muttered darkly, his eyes cast downwards towards his tennis shoes. "We can be with whoever we want, without anything bad happening, long as nobody else knows what we're doing."

Teddy gazed at Larry thoughtfully before reaching out and covering his hand with his. Larry looked up into Teddy's caring gaze and gave a small, sad smile. Part of him wanted to turn the tv off so he wouldn't have to hear the decision that was about to be made, and yet he knew he had to know for sure rather the ruling state of New York was going to condemn his people.

"Do not fret so, lad," Teddy assured in his soft, compassionate voice, his eyes shimmering. "Freedom will always prevail in the end."

"I know, Teddy," Larry told him. "I just get so damn tired of being told that I'm wrong to love somebody the rest of the world doesn't like me being with!"

"They have no right to discriminate against you . . . " Teddy lifted Larry's hand and entwined their fingers. " . . . or I for love."

Larry looked up at him in surprise, and Jed and Octavius' argument drifted away as he gazed into his sweet eyes. Teddy returned his gaze, unblinking, as the news unraveled before them.

* * *

><p>"Yer crazy, ya know that!" Jed exclaimed heatedly.<p>

"I am merely stating the truth as it was," Octavius returned, his fingers fiddling with the edge of his toga. "That is not to say that I agree with the laws!"

"Thought ya were some kind o' big, bad General back in yer day!" Jed threw his hands up into the air. "Ya couldn't do somethin' 'bout it?"

"No!" Octavius declared, his own, dark face now flushed. "That is not to say that I would not have liked to, but had I attempted to reveal the truths of how I felt, how I still feel and always will, I would have been cast aside along with the others who loved men openly. I could not allow for that to happen. My people needed me too badly."

"Yer people? How 'bout th' rest o' yer people, th' ones who were punished fer lovin' who they loved? How 'bout th' ones who were tortured fer lovin' who yer 'people'," Jed made air quotes as he spat out the word, "thought they shouldn't?"

"I did not like it," Octavius snapped, bristling, "but I had no choice!"

"There's always a choice!"

"Indeed," Octavius almost growled as he stepped so close to Jedediah that the toes of their boots touched. "Tell me, Jedediah, did you ever love a man in the open?"

Jed paused, and Octavius knew from the look that flashed over the blonde's face, like a rabbit caught in a trap, that he had made his point victoriously. "N-No," Jed muttered. But then he'd never needed to, he realized. He'd never had any one he loved until he'd met Octavius. "But then I didn't need to!" he said aloud. "I never had anybody 'til you!"

Octavius paused. He had not expected to hear those words. He had never once thought that Jedediah had never had another lover until himself. He had had strings of lovers in the past but none he had truly cared for until he'd met the handsome cowboy who infuriated and enthralled him so thoroughly. "Jedediah, I - " He fumbled for words and nearly twisted off a piece of his toga. "I - "

Jed grinned, and though he knew that he had won their latest argument, his smile had little to do with his success. "It's all right, Octie," he said, placing his gloved hands on the Roman General's hips and drawing him closer, and more gently, against him. "Just tell me," he queried, "would ya fight fer me today?"

"Absolutely," Octavius breathed against his mouth without a second's doubt. "I would gladly lay down my life for the right to love you, my darling Jedediah, today, tonight, or any other time now that I know you and your love, _our_ love!"

Jed grinned broadly; his blue eyes sparkled merrily. "That's all I needed to know," he assured as he kissed him. Octavius' lips opened underneath his, welcoming his questing tongue and meeting his sweet, hot invader with his own.

Their bodies pressed so closely against each other that they could feel every inch of one another through the tightness of Jed's trousers and the flapping edges of Octavius' toga. Jed felt like whooping aloud as the bulk in his pants was met by Octavius' natural sword. He'd teased Octie mercilessly in the past for wearing a skirt, but since they had started to come together, he had found that he really liked that skirt and the way his manhood so easily lifted it.

"Not on the table, guys," Larry called distractedly as Jed started to lift the rising edge of Octavius' toga.

"Larry," Teddy announced, giving his best friend's hand a tight squeeze, "they are about to announce their decision."

All four of the men turned immediately back to the television and watched with bated breath as the news was announced. They stood in shocked silence for a moment as the decision sank into their minds and they realized that their people, at least in this state, were free at long last! Jed was the first to react as he snatched off his white, cowboy hat and threw up into the air with a whooping holler celebrating their victory. Octavius whirled back to him, caught him in his arms, and lifted him up as they cheered. Their chests bumped, and then they kissed again.

Larry watched as Teddy brushed a tear from his eye. "Teddy?" he asked quietly.

"It's all right," Teddy said, shrugging off his joyful tears. "I am happy."

"I know," Larry told him, stepping up to him and closing out the small distance that had remained between them until this very moment. "So am I," he said. He lifted their entwined fingers, reached out, and lovingly brushed his empty hand over the side of Teddy's face.

Teddy blinked owlishly at him. "Larry?" he questioned.

"We're free," Larry spoke happily. Teddy watched him with brown eyes both sparkling with hope and wary of a disaster yet striking them. Larry gazed back into his eyes as he lowered his mouth towards his. Teddy's mustache met the soft skin above Larry's upper lip, and the night guard's grin grew as he was tickled. He swallowed the laughter that rose in his throat. He'd never kissed any one with a mustache before, but then he'd also never kissed any one who meant as much to him as Teddy had come to mean over the years he'd been serving as the museum's night guard.

He paused a mere fraction of an inch above Teddy's mouth and hovered there, as yet unsure. What if Teddy did not want him as badly as he wanted him? What if he didn't love him and his love really was Sacagawea? What if he had misunderstood all the sensational touches and heated brushes they'd shared over the years and they were all merely gestures of friendship on Teddy's part?

Teddy swallowed hard. He couldn't stand the growing apprehension any longer. He had to know rather or not Larry could love him, despite the fact that he was a human and he merely a representation of one. "Go ahead and kiss me, lad," he said, his whispered words tickling Larry's mouth even more as they brushed over his perked lips, "if you want to."

"I've never wanted anything more," Larry admitted, and he kissed him. They were free at last, and though they were as different as night and day, they were also still two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same soul that had finally found one another again after all the time they'd spent searching! Their hearts soared together, and each man knew in that moment that their futures had never been brighter.

Tears slipped down Teddy's face as he took off his gloves, tossed them to the side, and held Larry's handsome face in his bare hands. He kissed him more deeply, his tongue sliding boldly into his mouth and sparking a dance with his own tongue. Since learning that he was not really human, Teddy had given up hope of having a bright future. The harsh realization had changed everything about his outlook on life, but now, for the first time in years, he found his future bright again. It didn't matter that he wasn't really human. What mattered was that he was loved and was holding his true love right here in his arms. Teddy now knew two things about whatever might come next. Their future was brighter than the golden sun so long denied him could ever shine, and together they would be happy and best whatever came their way together forever!

Jedediah whooped loudly as Octavius paused in kissing him to swing him around again, and their shouts of joy became even louder as they saw their friends kissing. The Roman empire had had it wrong, after all, Octavius reflected though he would never admit it aloud. Freedom was the grandest power on Earth, and the most important of those freedoms was to be free not only to do and say what one chose but, most of all, to love whomsoever to one's heart belonged. He was free now, and he would never waste a moment of that freedom! He'd love Jedediah forever and never once try to hide his love!

Jed whooped again as Octavius brought him back down against him. Their bodies slid together in perfect unity, and Octavius kissed the cowboy who'd long ago lassoed his heart as though there was no tomorrow. Yet he knew, now, that there would always be a tomorrow. Each night with his love would always be grander than the one before it, and he'd spend every moment of the future loving his wonderful, beloved Jedediah forever more!

Jed lifted his mouth from Octie's to whisper, "I love you!"

"I love you too, Jedediah!" Octavius cried out boldly and then kissed him again and again for as long as the night lasted.

**The End**


End file.
